Overview

Eidos is a markdown standard for defining the essence of a thing — a product, a book, a body of work, anything you set out to make. One file is the complete source of truth for one unit of it, independent of time or status: as true of something planned as of something long finished.

The files live as plain .md next to your code. No SaaS, no lock-in, no hidden state.

The one idea to hold on to

A blueprint captures what a thing is and why — never the work of building it. A task describes work and dies when the work ships. A blueprint describes the thing, and stays accurate across its whole life: before it exists, while it’s built, after it’s retired.

Where to start

Quick StartInstall the skills, scaffold a root, write your first blueprint.

Why Eidos ExistsThe problem it solves, and what it deliberately is not.

The four things to understand

Framework & Blueprint

Two words carry the whole idea. The framework is the form; a blueprint is one unit written in it, defined completely. Read it →

Collections & Blueprints

A collection is a folder of repeated units. A blueprint is one markdown file defining one unit completely — frontmatter plus a body. Read it →

Shapes & Flavors

A shape is the body template a collection’s blueprints follow. A flavor is one of its variants — start light, grow into the fuller one. Read it →

Schema

The frontmatter contract every blueprint carries: five core properties Eidos requires, plus whatever your framework adds. Read it →

What this site is, and isn’t

These pages teach Eidos — the reasoning behind it, and how to actually use it. They are not the standard. The standard is one file, EIDOS.md, and it is the contract: the terms, the structures, and the rules. When the two disagree, the standard wins and this site has a bug.

Tip

Everything here describes Eidos 4.4.2. The standard and the plugin that ships it version separately — see Versioning.